Lindsey Vonn falls in first leg of giant slalom, title still up for grabs

Lindsey Vonn falls in giant slalom

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — Lindsey Vonn fell in the first leg of the season’s final giant slalom and Maria Riesch was able to make up ground on Vonn’s overall World Cup lead.

Reisch finished third Thursday to cut Vonn’s overall World Cup lead to 165 points with two races remaining.

Vonn, seeking her third straight title, went into Thursday’s race with a 225-point lead over the German. But Vonn’s skis locked, she spun in the air and crashed into the safety netting in heavy snowfall, meaning she will not collect any points.

Riesch was fifth in the first leg and the German needs to get the gap between her and Vonn under 200 points to stay in the hunt for the overall title. A win is worth 100 points and there are two races left.

Tina Maze of Slovenia won the race and Kathrin Hoelzl of Germany clinched the World Cup title in the event by finishing second and totaling 471 points.

“That’s how we agreed to do it, she wins today, I do it Saturday,” Riesch said.

Her only rival, Kathrin Zettel of Austria, placed ninth and finished with 394 points. Hoelzl became the first German to win the title since Martina Ertl 12 years ago.

Maze trailed Hoelzl after the first heat but put in the fastest second run to edge the German by .03 seconds in the combined time. Maze’s aggregate time was 2:10.72 and earned her the ninth victory of her career. Riesch was .21 seconds behind.